Aston Martin Racing set for action in Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona

Aston Martin Racing will be on the starting grid for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona this weekend for the first time since 1985.

Three Aston Martin Vantage race cars will compete in the first round of the inaugural Tudor United SportsCar Championship, with the V8 Vantage GTE running in the new GTLM class, and a pair of V12 Vantage GT3s -- entered by AMR official partner team TRG-AMR -- in the new GTD class.

The Aston Martin Racing NorthWest-liveried V8 Vantage GTE returns to the track following a run in the World Endurance Championship last year and will compete in the highest GT class, GTLM.

Aston Martin Racing works drivers Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke, Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Richie Stanaway will use their GT racing skills and expertise to negotiate the No. 97 through the 66 other cars on the technically challenging track and amid changing light and heat conditions.

“It's a hard circuit to get the right balance between the straight-line speed required for the banking and enough downforce to let the car work on the infield section,” explains Turner. “The biggest challenge will be getting the tires up to temperature during the night as Daytona can be very cold once the sun goes down.

“Testing went very well and I think we have a reasonably good set-up for the race that should only need a little fine-tuning before the start. Daytona is such a cool 24-hour race and I'm really pleased we are going to be racing the V8 Vantage GTE there.”

Joining the GTE on track will be two Vantage GTDs prepared and run by Aston Martin Racing partner team TRG-AMR, which has four 24 Hours at Daytona class victories under its belt.

Dan Sayers, chief engineer at Aston Martin Racing, said, “The Vantage GTD is based on the Aston Martin V12 Vantage road car. It is very similar to our Vantage GT3, which recently won the British GT Championship in that it shares the same V12 engine but runs a slightly different aero package and set-up to comply with the new Tudor United SportsCar Championship regulations.”